One of the problems solved by file sharing, a dirty practice according to the wider public, is that scarcity is no longer a problem. That film or this album is no longer lost to time and can be preserved as all art should be. Under the Staircase is a Spotify exclusive for the same reason U2’s Songs of Innocence was an iTunes disaster, because someone has paid the right amount of money to hold the rights. What it means is that, once the service is rendered redundant, irrelevant, or the art itself no longer receives enough streams, the piece is lost to time. Few may remember Under the Staircase, an intimate performance Paul McCartney gave from Abbey Road Studios back in 2018. This is the sort of performance an avid fan, or even someone with a passing interest in McCartney, would kill for. It is as good as it sounds.
Returning to Abbey Road is no small feat, and for McCartney, it means revisiting the hits from his days in The Beatles and Wings. But the veteran frontman has some tremendous contemporary material at hand, too, as he promotes Egypt Station around this time. What many have criticised McCartney for in recent years, the change to his vocal range and consistency, benefits a few of the songs performed on Under the Staircase. The likes of Juniors Farm and One After 909 are always going to sound better with the seasoning of decades’ experience. McCartney reflects on this with some neat recollections of heading into the studio through the tradesman’s entrance, the door under the staircase opening to The Beatles. Hearing McCartney and his talented group play through hits from his past is a real treat, especially when they sound keen to drop the hits in place of those new pieces. Fuh You and Come On To Me feature, while Get Back, Hey Jude, and The End are absent.
For all these pieces, the focus is not just the longing for the past; the heartbreak of hearing McCartney yell “I wanna go back,” is not lost on those in attendance, there are just as many facing the future. Considering this is a hits-laden setlist at a studio The Beatles recorded their best works, it is surprising to hear how little the set is reliant on those flashes of nostalgia. McCartney continues to build a contemporary thrill with his material, decades old it may be. This is the closest many will get to a live experience with McCartney. Under the Staircase and his live show from New York’s Central Park Station, both made in support of Egypt Station, are great experiences for those who cannot make their way to the limited run of Got Back shows. McCartney is undeniably strained on the likes of I’ve Got a Feeling and Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, but the longevity of the songs is what carries him through.
Your enjoyment of Under the Staircase depends on the value you hear not in the performance, but in the long-lasting hits. These are songs which McCartney has loved for decades, and performing them in these similar-sounding styles to the studio versions, is a treat. Where McCartney may coast along on the memories of London and the music he made at Abbey Road, it does not dominate the set. A few choice stories, lovely recollections of trading songs with The Rolling Stones lead into I Wanna Be Your Man, are all part of the charm. Under the Staircase is worth seeking out because it offers an honest and grand assessment of the hits, of which McCartney has many. An exceptional performance, to say the least.
